Showing posts with label Bogus Students. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bogus Students. Show all posts

Monday 13 November 2017

Student Loans Fraud Exposed by BBC Panorama

Greenwich School of Management in London - also known as GSM London has come under scrutiny amid reports from BBC panorama programme today, The BBC says whistle blowers tipped it off about a "dodgy freelance agent" and malpractices in recruiting students for its degree programme with Plymouth University .

BBC Panorama's investigation comes at a time of massive change in Higher education landscape in England, The Higher Education and Research Act, passed earlier this year, would create a powerful new regulator for higher education in England called the Office for Students. The government is also looking at whether new businesses could offer degrees from day one on a probationary basis, which could attract interest from companies operating elsewhere in the world.

About £400m-a-year is received by 112 private colleges through the student loan system. The government is keen to expand the sector as part of reforms designed to make degree and diploma courses more accessible to people who might otherwise find it difficult to enter higher education.

This year total student loan debt, from universities and private colleges, amounted to £100bn.

In todays BBC's  Panaorama programme Plymouth University and GSM London college have been heavily implicated in student loan fraud, both institutions have declined direct involvement in the matter. You can see more on this story on Panorama, Student Loan Scandal on BBC One at 7.30pm on Monday 13th November and afterwards on iPlayer.

Wednesday 2 December 2015

College fraud claim: Payments to a Cardiff campus and its students were suspended

A recruiter for West London Vocational Training College in Cardiff said they could cheat their way to receiving thousands of pounds, Recruiter, Kazi Shajahan offered to sell coursework needed for qualifications.

It prompted Education Minister Huw Lewis to suspend payments to West London Vocational Training College and to its Cardiff students.

The college, based on the city's Greyfriars Road, has nearly 100 IT and business students. Those on Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) can receive up to £17,000 a year in loans and grants, which will only be repaid when they earn more than £21,000 annually.

One of the journalists faked a GCSE certificate and applied for funding which was approved. Another potential student, who does not want to be identified, says Mr Shajahan offered him the chance to take part. "He was offering £10,000 student finance plus the grant," he claimed.

Also College principal Dr Manoj Kumar is revealed to have faked his Cambridge University PhD and teaching certificates

Courtesy: BBC Wales presenter Tim Rogers and the Week In Week Out team uncovered the allegations Week In Week Out is on BBC One Wales at 22:40 GMT on Tuesday, 1 December

Friday 30 January 2015

65 Colleges Licences Revoked, 600 Plus Students Removed or Detained

Last yearThe UK government revoked the licences of 54 plus private colleges, since then, according to Home Office sources more than 1,600 enforcement visits have been made and over 600 individuals have been served removal notices or detained in relation to curtailment of student visa matters

Amid upcoming elections the number one issue has become Immigration according to the recent opinion polls and pressure has flown down from political hierarchy to authorities such as UKVI to exercise more grip on Immigration, also additional measures has been introduced to crack down on bogus students which included recent measures such as mandatory landlord checks on tenants’ immigration status, which are currently being trialled in the West Midlands.

One of the trigger in this ongoing crack down is with fraud in English language testing system detected last year - now more than 33,725 invalid TOEIC test results have been reported by ETS Global to the Home Office, along with 22,694 questionable results – up from 19,000 and 29,000 respectively at the time of the original announcement and investigation.

Crack down on student visa scams is not unique to UK it is a common trend in many countries, in Australia the number of student visas cancelled by the Australian government has more than tripled in the last two years (according to The Australian that student visa cancellations more than doubled from 1,978 in 2012 to 4,940 in 2013, rising again to 7,061 in the last financial year) as instances of falsified test results and/or financial documents have soared, we reckon this trend is not only purely on irregularities on student front and private tier institutions but also stems largely from the popular dis comfort of Immigrants in the wider society thus has become a political issue

We at UKEducationForAll.com kindly urge that all Sponsors who take students from institutions whose licences have been revoked will need to undertake their normal compliance checks and there is no reason in principle why they should not accept such students who have not, individually, been found to be at fault

Sunday 9 February 2014

The Student Visa Scandal - Fraud in Student Visa System Exposed

The Student Visa Scandal
Will broadcast in BBC One, Monday 10 February at 20:30 BST, by Richard Watson


"What Panorama has uncovered is extremely important, it's very shocking and I want to do something about it”
Home Secretary Theresa May

  • The Home Office has suspended English language tests run by a major firm after BBC Panorama uncovered systematic fraud in the student visa system
  • The Home Secretary said the government had suspended the two colleges (immigration consultancy called Studentway Education in Southall, West London and Eden College International in East London)
  • All further English language tests done through ETS in the UK had also been suspended
    (ETS - One of the biggest English language testing companies in the world)
  • Fake Bank documents: Undercover researchers were also sold fake bank details to show they had enough funds to stay in the UK

Friday 31 August 2012

London Metropolitan University Suspended


The UK Border Agency has revoked (withdrawn) London Metropolitan University's license to sponsor students from outside the European Union.

Well, What this means to you as an non EU student/ existing London Metropolitan University student or a new student who is planning to travel to the UK

If you are an existing London Metropolitan University student with a current, valid visa and on holiday outside the UK, then you can return to the UK. London Metropolitan University students who are already in the UK with a current, valid UK visa do not need to do anything immediately. More significant matter is if you are a new student who is planning to travel to the UK to start studying with London Metropolitan University then you should not travel.

London Metropolitan University's HTS status was suspended last month while the UK Border Agency (UKBA) examined alleged failings consequently it was revoked (withdrawn) yesterday, meaning thousands of its non EU students may face deportation and the university is stripped of its right to admit non EU students.


More on This Story

Why has London Metropolitan University been banned from accepting foreign students from outside of the European Union? An interesting analysis by BBC Home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani: London Met's foreign students

Students from London Metropolitan University launched a sit-in protest: video;

A blog entry at Guardian written by a lecturer at London Metropolitan University on University's license revocation and students English standards

Q&A on London Metropolitan University's visa licence suspension/revokation

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Money is driving force of rise in foreign students seeking UK degree


The number of international students coming to study in Britain has risen significantly in recent years. Holly Watt analyzes the trend
 

In autumn 2010, 298,110 students from outside the EU were in higher education courses. The number rose 6.2 per cent in one year, up from 280,760 in autumn 2009. That increase was largely driven by an influx from China and India.

In two years, the number of Chinese students rose by 43 per cent, with 67,325 in British higher education in 2010-11. The number of Indians rose by 14.7 per cent to 39,090.

The number from Saudi Arabia almost doubled to 10,270. The reason for the increase is alleged to be largely commercial.

At present, tuition fees for British students are capped at £9,000 a year. But UCL in London, for example, charges international students £14,000,... Read more here

Courtesy: The Telegraph

Thursday 1 September 2011

What Should I do if my College Licence is suspended?

What Should I do if my College Licence is suspended?

College licence suspension means they are suspended from recruiting new students. Existing students will remain with the college as long as the licence is not withdrawn

My analytics shows that the entrant keywords for this web site are closely related to suspended colleges, which in turn reflects that popular demand is to keep a tab on their college’s current status.

During the past this blog had focused more on education policies in UK and immigration regulations in general but In order to cater to the demand based on analytics and popular queries, from now onwards this blog will be focusing more on student immigration matters, college regulations and hot topics such as suspended colleges


Mentioned below are some popular queries raised by students. In order to understand the consequences of college suspension let us see some sample cases

1. Question: I am a student, from India what if my colleges licence is withdrawn, just before i log my application to the VFS

Answer: If your approved education provider’s licence is withdrawn, your visa letter (CAS – Confirmation of acceptance of study) will become invalid and you will not be able to use it to support any application for

leave to come to the United Kingdom. Any applications made using an invalid CAS will be refused.


2. Question: I am a student at BITE, My college licence is suspended what I should do ?

Answer: Your query does not mention when your leave to remain (LTR) ends, Hovwer with the limited information I assume you have enough LTR
Refer my latest post on Suspended Colleges in UK 2011as to how to find out whether your college’s licence is re instated or not

In short you need not do anything, Wait and hope that they will be back sooner..!


3. Question: Hello i am doing my MBA and i am left with my dissertation which i need to submit on august 12 2011 however my college is in suspension and my visa is going to get expire on 31july 2011, what do i do? do i have extend my visa from some other college or can apply from the same college which is suspension. since i had spoken in my college with regards to my extension they says, they won’t be able to provide CAS letter until college return to tier4 sponsor list, so kindly advice me what should i do. can i take conditional letter from college and apply for the visa

Answer: If your suspended college cannot issue a new CAS (to make possible you to renew your visa) you have to find another college! And apply for a fresh visa

4. Question: My College is not in operation, initially the licence was suspended and recently they have closed down the college 

Answer: It looks like your college licence was suspended and consequently withdrawn by UKBA. They will limit your permission to stay to 60 days if you were not involved in the reasons why your college had their licence withdrawn

(UKBA will not limit your permission to stay if you have less than six months left. You may want to apply for permission to stay with another approved education provider during this time)

This post will be continually updated with popular queries from you, you can check out frequently to find out further insight here

Feel free to comment on the dire consequences you faced due to the suspension of your colleges sponsor status

You can subscribe to our email news letter FREE of charge, all new updates will be emailed instantly to your inbox

Tuesday 1 February 2011

New Policy Update – Student Visa Process

Tougher rules for non-EU students, New Student Visa Policy Updates and PSW Closure…
The official consultation period on the student visa route closed by 31st Jan, 2011.

Yesterday, Damian Green, the Immigration minister, said "It seems to me that to allow unfettered access to the jobs market for two years to anyone with a student visa from abroad is putting an unnecessary extra strain on our own graduates," – This implies limiting post-study work at a time when graduate unemployment is at its peak for 17 years.

According to the Yesterday’s Interview with BBC Immigration Minister Damian Green has announced a review of every route used to gain the right to live and work indefinitely in the UK. access the Interview Video with BBC here
In a speech for a Think Tank Organization, yesterday, He was targeting the private FE sector offering below degree level courses, in which 613 private colleges were rated less than "highly trusted" by the UK Border Agency. The sector brought in 91,000 students last year, he said.
He cited cases including that of a college that had two lecturers for 940 students, amid all this railway time-table announcements of new student policy updates, many UK Colleges wary on new Visa Rules, Click Here to read the FT Analysis
As the official consultation ended up on newly announced student visa policy Expect further detailed procedures and guidelines in the coming days; it is to be finally announced means It is to be implemented by first week of April, 2011

We also expect, not wish - Revamp of settlement rights which means thousands of migrants are to lose the right to live in the UK permanently


Rushdy Razak

UK Immigration and Nationality Policy Handbook Volume 1 Strategic Information and Basic Regulations

Monday 6 December 2010

Foreign student crackdown

Up to 100,000 foreign students will be barred from Britain every year under planned tough new immigration rules to be unveiled tomorrow

Ministers will suggest reducing further the current restriction that students can only work for 20 hours a week to supplement their funds and are likely to raise the bar as to when they can bring dependants with them, which is currently set at those staying for six months or more.
Click here to read further

Click here to read my earlier predictions made in September, 2010


Rushdy Razak


Saturday 15 May 2010

Bogus students facing global crackdown

"Unscrupulous" recruitment agents who bring bogus overseas students into the UK are being targeted in an international initiative.



The British Council has for the first time brought together countries including the UK, the US and Australia to try to keep out such students.
The council says there are "widespread concerns" about dishonest agents.
Universities say the majority of agents are legitimate and are an important way of finding overseas students.
Rogue agents are accused of falsifying documents and helping people to get around the student visa system, the rules of which immigration authorities in the UK have tried to tighten.
Expanding business
It is a problem that raises concerns about illegal immigration and the possibility of people with terrorist intentions coming into the country, although in many cases it is the students themselves who are being duped.
A meeting of immigration and education authorities in London, the first of its kind, is intended to co-ordinate a multi-national response.
Higher education has become a globalised market and the British Council says there needs to be an international approach to tackling fraud.
In particular there are concerns about agents fraudulently sending students from Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan and parts of Africa.
Legitimate agents recruit for a commission, which can be worth several thousands of pounds per student, bringing overseas students to universities, colleges and language schools.
Four out of five UK universities use agents, says the British Council, with "many thousands" of individual agents working in this expanding business.
The British Council says that some dishonest agents advertise courses as a route to migration and claim to "guarantee" success in admission tests.
Agents have also cheated honest applicants, who are misled into paying for courses at bogus colleges, which are nothing like the places that agents have described.
The British Council says agents have been caught passing off "two-room colleges as prestigious institutions".
Read More the latest BBC report here
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